[Dreammaker]

In this time of increased fuel costs, anybody have any ideas that have worked well to save money on fuel costs, office/driver expense, food costs?

[pelicn]

Fuel costs- Slow down
Office/driver expense- not sure what you mean here.
Food costs- eat in the truck, but groceries instead of eating out

[Dreammaker]

One way I have found helpful is to use the trip planning feature at fueladvice.com. It usually finds the cheapest fuel on my route. Just used it for my current trip and it located a fuel stop with a $.52/gallon discount. Add that up over a year's time and you are looking at some significant savings. Another site to find fuel prices is gocomchek.com.

[Dreammaker]

In the last two weeks, I have noticed some of our drivers are still not using any form of gps product. This comes to bite you when you are trying to find a shipper or cons. Two weeks ago, three of our tractor trailers were dispatched to do similar loads. One of the three got lost on the way to the cons. All in all, he drove nearly 20 miles out of route and was nearly an hour late. 20 miles with fuel costs these days runs you about $13. Last night I was doing a swap. The other driver got lost on his way to the swap. Nearly an hour later, he showed up. He had driven nearly 30 miles out of route. That's nearly $20 of fuel costs. Multiply that by several times a month. Having GPS avoids most, if not all, of the problem. Sometimes it even finds a shorter route. Recently, I saved 30 miles on one of my loads. I use VZ Navigator a monthly service available for anyone who uses Verizon Wireless. Some of the other wireless carriers have similar services.

[pelicn]

Dreammaker, A GPS is a nice addition to a truck, and yes, it might save some fuel costs, but in the end, a good mapping software and a map will keep your drivers from getting lost. GPS doesn't usually take into account low clearances restricted routes, etc. So drivers should not rely solely on them.

[Dreammaker]

Originally Posted by pelicn

Dreammaker, A GPS is a nice addition to a truck, and yes, it might save some fuel costs, but in the end, a good mapping software and a map will keep your drivers from getting lost. GPS doesn't usually take into account low clearances restricted routes, etc. So drivers should not rely solely on them.

I agree with you. I use Microsoft Streets and Trips with the Truck Stops Plus 08 addin. GPS plus the mapping software work together well. Where GPS comes in is in the first five miles and the last five miles.

[tblount]

Originally Posted by Dreammaker

In this time of increased fuel costs, anybody have any ideas that have worked well to save money on fuel costs, office/driver expense, food costs?

1. slow down... possible savings 10 cents per mile

2. I bought a generator from sams club for $250 and a 5000 btu ac from walmart for $89 .... all those days I spend waiting on a load cost $20 for fuel for the full days ac and keeps my tv, computer, batteries etc charged up. It would cost at least $50 per day to idle a truck 24 hrs.. not to mention the depreciation

3. Gps.... getting lost is expensive... wasting time planning with maps is not for me

4. you probably have a laptop so if you buy a scanner and email your paperwork you may save 30 mile trips to a truckstop.

5. Put a shower in your truck and you can save miles driving to a truckstop.

6. Eat a lot from grocery stores.... food is probably better than a diet of fries and burgers

7. Get off softdrinks drink water and make your own coffee... it's easy to spend/waste $10 a day on drinks.

8. Stay out as long as you can... going home is usually very expensive.

[mjolnir131]

some great ideas i do like the explaination of cooking your own stuff 10 buck easy if your a major soda freak i would say possably even more.if you really have to have soad then get that from te store and put it in the fridge this will greatly reduce the cost as well.we have two refigarators for just this reason

but i do dissagree to a point with slow down.if i had found this forum when i first started i would be driving no faster than 55 and it would be costing me almost a mile per gallon.

from portland to boise averaged 9.77 well 9.768something close enough for 9.77 about the same distance in NV at 64 mph 10.58 and thats with way more hills on a flatter run it's over 1 mph differance so the key is not nessasarly slowing down. it's learning your truck.find out what speed it runs best at and stick to that zone when your able

gps i would say is a must have but you also have to have the map skills to understand what it's telling you.we use S&T with the gps costs like 50 bucks more but well worth it.However there are manytimes i will hit F3 to redo the route ,look at it and tell the computer i don't think so.

staying out does not really cut costs,but it gives you more revinue so you don't notice your mistakes as bad. we gave up our appartment and only go O/S 1-2 days a month if that 6-7 weeks is the norm.